


5 Times Peter Parker Ignores the Signs of Abuse + One Time He Learns That Love Shouldn't Hurt

by kianisabitch



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Angst, Coming Out, Eating Disorders, Emotional Manipulation, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Gaslighting, Gay Peter Parker, Hurt Peter Parker, Internalized Homophobia, LGBTQ Themes, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Physical Abuse, Protective Tony Stark, Rape, Self-Hatred, Sexual Abuse, This is not love, Verbal Abuse, internalized victim shaming, peter thinks it's all his fault
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-29
Updated: 2019-04-29
Packaged: 2020-02-09 13:38:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18639196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kianisabitch/pseuds/kianisabitch
Summary: He wasn’t trying to be annoying, but that doesn’t stop Liam from punching him square in the eye when the boy ‘won’t shut up about science’.He was taken aback at first, his eye burning and tears pooling in the corner. However, he was not given enough time to process the punch. Instead Liam calmly sat him down and explained exactly what the boy did wrong. “I don’t need to hear about all this science crap and when I ask you to stop, I mean it Peter.”ORFive times Peter ignores the signs of an abusive relationship thinking it is love and the one time Tony confronts him about it.





	5 Times Peter Parker Ignores the Signs of Abuse + One Time He Learns That Love Shouldn't Hurt

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is about an abusive relationship and is triggering, read the tags and take care of yourself!

1

 

The first time it happened, Peter was too naive to understand what was truly going on. As a person he is empathetic and driven mainly by his emotions, which makes it easy to ignore when his feelings get hurt. He shoves them away, locked in boxes in his mind and ignores them.

 

That day at lunch when Liam started acting a little more aggressive, he shoved his feelings of sadness and fear away and blamed it on his boyfriend having a bad day. 

 

Sure, it hurt when the teenagers nails dug into Peter’s arm to stop him from grabbing an extra serving of fries. And it really did hurt his feelings when Liam called him fat and then told him to slow down before he looked like a cow. 

 

But people were allowed to have bad days, right?  And it truly was his fault for trying to take too much food. He knew that Liam loved him and the little, half moon nail marks on his lower arm healed within 30 minutes. And with no physical proof left behind, it was easy  for Peter to forget and move on. 

 

He doesn’t need to linger on the phantom feeling of nail marks on his skin or his rumbling stomach (because one portion of fries truly were not enough for his superpowered metabolism). He doesn’t need to spend all night crying in his room because his boyfriend called him fat; but he does spend the time crying and then blaming himself for letting his emotions escape and control him. 

 

He only lingers on the rushed apology Liam texts him later that night, explaining that Peter wasn’t really fat and that he was just having a bad day. 

 

2

 

The next time it happened, Peter was left feeling as lost as the first time because the actions do not present themselves in the same way. Rather, it twists and turns and contorts itself until Peter can swear it is his own fault. And that Liam was only trying to deal with an unwilling, ungrateful boyfriend. 

 

He got the message when he was eating dinner with Aunt May and Mr. Stark at some fancy Italian restaurant on the Upper East Side. It is a monthly ritual between the three of them and Peter was truly having fun twirling his pasta on a fork that probably cost more than his phone and slurping the alfredo sauce up. Recently his hands had been shaking with hunger. He had been ignoring it however, opting to skip extra meals in front of Liam. He didn’t want his boyfriend to think he was disgusting and fat. 

 

When his phone screen lit up, bright and haunting and he had to flip over the phone faster than lightning to avoid the adults seeing the messages. 

 

**Liam:** hey babe…. feeling sad

 

**Liam:** can i get a pick me up picture?

 

Peter had hastily texted under the table that he was out to dinner with family and that he wasn’t able to send a photo now. However, that did not stop Liam from rapid fire sensing back nearly 15 messages, that Peter owes it to him. And that he’s sad. And that nudes are the only thing that will make him happy. And doesn’t Peter love him.

 

Peter does love him, so he sneaks off to the bathroom and takes a picture of his flaccid penis under the dim lighting of the upscale bathroom. 

 

He choked back vomit as he pressed send and makes eye contact with his smiling Aunt and mentor. 

 

He felt dirty, disgusting and useless, but he would hate to make Liam sad. He refused to be the reason his boyfriend had a bad day and he loved Liam. So he would do what he asked, even when it involved taking pornogragpic pictues in public places, with his basically parents sitting in the next room. 

 

He hated himself for taking the picture. But when Liam told him he was a good boyfriend for sending the picture and reminding him that it was Peter's job to make him happy, Peter felt even a little bit better. It didn’t matter if he felt comfortable or not, at least Liam was happy. 

 

3

 

The next time it happens, Peter can not ignore it. He is hit both metaphorically and literally in the face with the fact that something may be wrong. 

 

He wasn’t trying to be annoying, but that doesn’t stop Liam from punching him square in the eye when the boy ‘won’t shut up about science’. 

 

He was taken aback at first, his eye burning and tears pooling in the corner. However, he was not given enough time to process the punch. Instead Liam calmly sat him down and explained exactly what the boy did wrong. “I don’t need to hear about all this science crap and when I ask you to stop, I mean it Peter.”

 

It was probably the boy’s own fault for believing his boyfriend. But when Liam explains it so calmly, he can’t help but listen. He had been asked to stop and he didn’t listen. Liam was only trying to get him to shut up. He did always seem to be talking about science and Liam was usually right about these things. He was right about Peter getting fat, he had been cutting back on food intake during the school day for nearly two months now, so why wouldn’t he be right about him talking too much?

 

With the decreased food intake, his healing became slower and the bruise stayed for nearly a week. Everytime Peter would open his mouth to talk about science, he would poke at the bruise. The pain helped himself remember that he was annoying when he talked too much and he especially annoyed his boyfriend. He didn’t want to be annoying,so maybe not talking about it at all would fix the issue. 

 

When Aunt May asked about the bruise, he tells her he got it from falling down. It is clear the woman knows that is not the true story, but she trusts Peter to tell her if something is wrong. Looking back at it, Peter wishes they did not have that trust. He wishes she had gotten him out before it got much worse. But he did not tell, because he loved Liam and accidents happen. Liam is nicer to him afterwards and he is not out as gay. He would rather do anything but be out, so he keeps silent and then the black eye fades and he is left wondering if it was ever there at all.

 

4

 

At some point, Peter stopped counting when it happened. Because at this point it seems to never not happen.

 

It’s a black eye here, a cut on his cheek there. And even one time, a broken pinky finger when Liam is especially mad at Peter. 

 

Everytime it happens, Liam calmly explains what Peter did wrong and the boy consequently works to fix it. Is a fucked up cycle, but it works- well at least until it suddenly doesn’t work. 

 

Peter tries to tell his boyfriend no, he is not ready. But Liam doesn't listen. He laughs at the boy and uses his large body to pin Peter’s on the bed and tear his pants off with such force that one of the buttons flies off. 

 

Peter cried and cried and sobbed and screamed as he feels like his ass is tearing in two. Liam did not prepare him and Peter is, well was, a virgin. But now he is crying his body writhes under Liam’s body and around his large penis that has no business inside him. 

 

He hates his body even more when he cums at the end and Liam smiles a sadistic smile at the orgasm.  ‘I knew you wanted it’, he whispered while petting Peter’s hair with a hand covered in his own semen.   

 

Peter knows deep in his heart that he said no what feels like thousand times. But the next day when Liam explains that he knows he wanted it, Peter can’t help but thinking that he did in fact want. 

 

‘Liam wouldn't lie to him’, He thought, as his hand shook violently from lack of food. At  this point Aunt May knew something was wrong, she and Mr. Stark interrogated him until he finally told half the truth, and explained that he was scared about coming out as gay. He truly was terrified about coming about, but he can’t help but feeling like he is lying at the same time. 

 

They decide to throw Peter a coming out party just for the three of them the next day to celebrate. And Peter is filled with joy that the two most important people in his life love and support him. 

 

But he still feels terrible as he avoids eating any of the greasy food, terrified of what Liam will say if he gains any more weight. And the boy wears a large hoodie to hide the hand shaped bruises all over his arms from that night with Liam earlier in the week. 

 

His body hadn’t taken the intercourse well, Peter had found one of aunt May’s menstrual pads to stick to his underwear and catch the blood that had been slowly dripping from his ass over the course of the few days. It feels disgusting, but he keeps his head down. He orgasmed at the end and Liam explained that he had been asking for it, so that mean it was consensual. There was no use getting worked up about sex that was a little rougher than he was used to. (Peter pushed to the back of his mind the thought that wasn’t used to it,  because he had been a virgin who had not wanted sex anytime soon).

  
  


5

 

Peter truly thinks this will be the last time it happens, because he wants this to be the last time anything will happen between them. 

 

When Liam threatens to kill himself the night Peter sleeps over and the boy tells him he isn’t in the mood for sex, Peter thinks Liam will simply not listen. He thinks his boyfriend will force him, pin him down and fuck him so hard into the mattress that he can't stop screaming and bleeding and crying and feeling like he is free floating in space. 

 

He doesn’t think that Liam will push him down on his knees and shove his dick into his mouth. He doesn’t think that he will start screaming at Peter that he will kill himself if Peter ever says no again or tries to leave him. 

 

He is choking as Liam fucks his mouth, puncating each word out of his mouth with a harsh thrust of his hips. Peter refuses to be the reason his boyfriend kills himself, he doesn’t want to be the reason Liam is unhappy, so he keep his eyes downcast and tries not to gag. He knows he is being bad by saying no. He knows he deserves this. He will not be the reason Liam kills himself. He loves Liam too much. 

 

Later that night Peter bites down on his left arm, as Liam tightly grips his right arm in his hand. He tries to muffle the scream as Liam cuts deep into his skin with a razor blade. ‘This is how you make me feel’ He spat at the boy as the blood bubbled up to the surface of his pale skin. 

 

Everything is so red. And the blood loss paired with the lack of food in his system makes the boy feel like he is going to pass out. 

 

He hates that it got this far, but Liam loves him and he knows this is for the best. The cut and the hand shaped bruises and his torn ass and shaky hands are all worth it because they make Liam happy. And that is all he is good for, sacrificing himself to make his boyfriend happy. 

 

+1 

 

The next day in the lab, the sleeve of Peter’s hoodie falls down as the boy reaches to grab a screwdriver from Mr. Starks outstretched hand. 

 

His mentor’s eyes zero in on the barely scabbed over cut and the finger shaped bruises on his skin within an instant and he drops the screwdriver. The metal clatters against the floor, but neither male pay attention as Tony grabs Peter’s wrist and pulls his arm towards him.  

 

“What the fuck is this?” His eyes are dark and stormy and his voice became scarily deep as he traced a bruise with his finger. 

 

Peter doesn’t know how to respond. He doesn't know how to explain that he wasn't just gay, but has a boyfriend. He doesn't know how to explain how worthless he is and why he deserves the bruises and the cut and everything in his life. He doesn't know how to explain that his love feels scary sometimes. That it looks like the abusive relationship they watched a Captain America PSA video about in health class. He doesn't know how to explain that he thinks he might need help, but doesn’t ns’t know how to ask. 

 

When the boy doesn’t respond, Tony continues talking with a much softer voice. “Oh god Peter, please tell me this isn’t what I think it is. Please tell me somebody isn’t hurting you.”

 

Peter desperately wants to lie and tell the man that it isn’t what he thinks, that Liam loves him. But when he tries to say the words he feels like he is going to vomit all over the lab floor. So instead he simply says, “Liam… his name is Liam and he’s my um, he’s my boyfriend.”

 

Mr. Stark dropped his wrist, instead grabbing a cold cup of coffee from the workbench and chucking it at the wall opposite them.

 

Peter cringes at the loud noise echoing through the lab, but is already being pulled into a bone crushing hug by his mentor. “Alright kiddo, I’m so proud of you for telling me. We’re gonna work this out together, I promise.”

 

Peter lets himself focus on the smell of motor oil and the expensive cologne Mr. Stark wears. He still isn’t convinced Liam doesn’t love him, but in this moment he clings onto this man like he is the last person in the world. The affection from Mr. Stark does not hurt and maybe, just maybe that is the definition of real love.  

**Author's Note:**

> Abuse in teen relationships is more common than one would think and especially in gay relationships- it's barely talked about or educated on. And I feel like so many people blame stuff like this on themselves and miss the fact that they are being manipulated, abused and hurt. 
> 
> So ya this is my little contribution to talking about the topic more and I hope if you need help you're getting it. Sending good vibes as well if you need them. 
> 
> Comments fuel me and make me feel less alone, so pretty please leave some !!


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